Simulation Study on the Extension of Semi-flexible Polymer Chains in Cylindrical Channel

The scaling relations among the mean end-to-end distance of polymer along the channel , the polymer length N, and the effective diameter of channel De were investigated for flexible and semi-flexible polymer chains confined in long cylindrical channels. For the flexible polymer chain, scaling relation ∼ NDe∼∼0.7 was found in the classic de Gennes regime at lp2/b ∼ NDe∼∼1 in the transition regime lp 1) and ∼ De∼∼0.7 in the classic de Gennes regime at larger De > xlp were observed. The simulation results revealed that the scaling relation in the transition regime was due to the rod-like behavior of the semi-flexible polymer in the small regime lp < De < xlp.